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November 17, 2004
The Importance of a Family Litany
Personally, I love the idea of a “Family Litany” and I thought I’d share my thoughts on it. What I mean by litany is a family prayer where one person leads by naming a Saint or devotion and the rest of the family follows with a “Pray for Us” or other appropriate prayer. The Family Litany is the perfect way to end family night prayers and is a great way of integrating Catholic thought and practice into your family life. In addition, it doesn’t require much time – just a few minutes – and it doesn’t require a ton of preparation.
Developing a Family Litany
Your litany can be as short or long as you would like. To start, I recommend including any Saints which share the names of any family members, so for example if a “John” exists in your family, be sure to include “St. John” as part of the litany. In addition, patron Saints and any other saints special to your family – such as patrons of activities or hobbies you enjoy. Remember, you can start simple with just a handful of Saint, perhaps just the Gospel writers or the Archangels.
Praying the Litany
Once you’ve chosen your saints, simply lead the devotion for your family right at the end of night prayers (A litany is also recommended at the end of a family rosary). I also recommend ending with a “Sacred Heart of Jesus” for which the response is “Save us.” The litany encompasses a Catholic understanding of the Saints and Angels and begins teaching our children that there is a whole world of Saints we can ask for help. As your children discover new Saints they share an affinity for, try to incorporate them into your litany. You can also allow older children to lead the litany and encourage them to include other Saints they know about.
Another Source of Help
Saints are a wonderful source of help for the Christian. By asking them to pray for us continually we receive the benefit of their holiness in our lives. This devotion encourages personal devotion to the Saints for individual family members and teaches them much about the faith. If you aren’t doing a Family Litany now, why not start?
God bless,
Jay
Posted by HolyFamily at November 17, 2004 10:50 PM
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Comments
we do something like this as part of Grace before Thanksgiving dinner. It is a good place to start.
Posted by: alicia at November 20, 2004 6:23 PM
